Our Free Guide To playstation

I bought this as a back-up to a PS2 I already owned but was rather old. Of course, we switched it out and are keeping the old one as back-up.

I’m frankly not interested in the PS3 as yet anyway. It doesn’t seem to have all the games yet. I’ve a lot of games for the 2 and don’t want to spend a fortune upgrading. I think the 2 is easy and fun to use and I have zero interest in playing on-line.

I want to get more games while the getting’s good but frankly I hope they don’t discontinue the 2 or its games any time soon. I’m nervous because it’s getting harder to find stores carrying the games for the 2 and I’m happy to see that Amazon has quite a few.

I’ll cling to my PS2 as long as I can. I have my eye on the silver verision to be honest.

I received my PS2 about three years ago. I still love it now just as much as the day I got it. The graphics are very good and the console is so small it will go just about anywhere you put it. It’s also very light weight which is a big plus for traveling. There are a bunch of games for PS2’s now a lot of the older games are under 20 dollars. Which is very nice if you don’t want to break the bank buying games. Most of the newer games like Madden or MLB the Show run about 40 dollars. One bad thing about my console is it won’t play two of my games but will play them on my friends. It might be like that because when I first got it I didn’t have a memory card so I would leave it on so it wouldn’t lose my data.

All in all this is a great console! If you want good graphics for under 150 dollars this is the perfect console for you!

I got a PS2 back in 2005 or so. I thought the world of it, especially over the PS1. I mainly got the PS2 because I already had a few PS1 games that I wanted to be able to play, along with some newer games. (Plus, Pawn America was selling PS2 systems for $100.) At the time, they were making rockin’ PS2 games, but since newer systems have been released, (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, etc.) the people who make games don’t seem to want to make much effort into PS2 games anymore. I tend to trust IGN for reviews on games, and according to them, the quality of PS2 games has gone downhill, probably because the people who design video games are concentrating more on the newer systems. To me, and lots of others’ reviews, that makes things really unfair for PS2 users. Game systems these days are getting to be really expensive, especially for people who don’t have much money, and designers of video games, or whatever you want to call them, don’t seem to pay much attention. I haven’t purchased a game in several months, and that’s why. So, it’s a loss of money on someone’s part.

I had no idea which unit to buy, the 120 or the 250 GB Playstation 3. I ended up with the 250 out of fear that the 120 would leave me desiring more space later. If you don’t know anything, here is what I see so far. On the Playstation network, you can download game demos and marketing videos for games free. I haven’t found myself doing this a lot yet. Of course, you can also delete them easily after you watch them.

Most playable games even old ones cost to download so I have decided to just buy a couple of the popular ones and am hooked on those and the stunning DVD and Blu Ray movie quality for now. You are not going to be able to download games like Modern Warefare 2 to your hard drive from the PS network that I can see. WHen you buy a game at the store or here on amazon in disc format, you have to install it first. This may take some hard drive space. So far, one game I have takes nearly 3 GB and another takes up less than 1 GB but the games also called for an update download which I don’t know how much space that took. At this rate, you could install maybe 100 store bought disc format games.

Playing movies on disc doesn’t seem to take hard drive space. You can download movies from the Playstation network. If you do much of this, I image you’ll need more space but the movies I was interested in cost the same amount to buy from amazon or wal-mart as to download so if you can wait to go to the store or recieve a package, you don’t need to download it. You can rent movies also. I imagine this is a download that is disabled after a time period or after it is viewed or something. You can also download TV shows like “The Office” for $2 an eposode. If you want to do a lot of that, maybe the bigger HD is a good idea.

I am thinking you would do well with just the 120GB unless you know you are going to make a collection of movies and TV shows and low priced downloadable games on your Playstation.

You can also save photos on the Playstation as well as video. If this is part of your plan, well again more space may help. The PS3 has USB ports where I believe you could load photos and home movies from to view on your TV.

You can also access your applications on the www like facebook.

Bare in mind that there are a lot of folkes out there with older PS3’s that have only 40 and 80 GB drives who love their playstation and don’t feel the need for the 250 GB drive.

I don’t feel upset that I spent the extra $50 to get the larger drive because it might be useful later, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have been comfortable buying the 120 for my purposes which is playing a small number of games (not a small amount of time, just a small number of games because they cost a lot) and watching some Blu Ray movies.

If you still find it hard to make a decision, ask yourself if you want to spend more money because both models are the same except the HD size which you can upgrade later. By the time you buy the unit, HD cable, a game, maybe another controller and remote control for Blu Ray, you’ll be in deep on the expense and maybe another $50 isn’t acceptable.

It is a very good and fun product. After I spent all the money on what I needed, I debated on hooking it up or sending it back because it was a lot of money; I’m very glad I hooked it up and delt with the expense. It is everything I hoped.

Prior to getting the PS3, we had a Sony BluRay player, an Apple TV and a PC hooked up to our Sony Bravia LCD TV. PC was used for Netflix and backing up the Apple TV, Apple TV was used to rent and buy movies, and the Sony BluRay Player simply played BluRay DVDs. After learning about the functionality of the PS3, I was sold.

We’ve had it for about 2 weeks now and I am ever impressed with it’s capabilities and quality. Keep in mind, this is the first type of gaming system like this we’ve owned (we do have a Wii but I put this in a different class). Here’s my take on the various functions and their quality, smoothness and quickness of processing/playing.

Gaming – Amazing quality with no hesitations at all (playing Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2) and I’ve been playing quite a bit since we first got it. Like the Wii, you can download old games like Mortal Kombat II and new ones for PS3 and the PSP. Initially, I didn’t think I was going to play that much but the graphics and the games have been really cool. Not much of an online player at the moment but it seems that most have this option available. Even Mortal Kombat II. You can create user profiles on the PS3 which automatically link to saved game data. Automatic and very nice. Create additional users so they can advance at their own pace.

BluRay – Discs load quicker than the Sony BluRay player we bought about 9-12 months ago. Thoroughly impressed with the quality of the picture. You can also play older discs and they’ll work just fine.

Netflix – You’ll need to get a disc from Netflix to be able to do this. We’ve watched Instant Watch movies via PC/Internet on our TV and the quality wasn’t too bad. I say acceptable and sometimes the movie would freeze for a few seconds. On average about two freezes per movie. We were expecting the same thing via the PS3 but were dead wrong. The quality is AMAZING and there has not been one hiccup in the video. This really impressed us…and I’m a picky [...] so don’t take that compliment lightly.

Renting/Buying Movies/Shows via PlayStation Store – Lots of shows available for viewing, including the current season of whatever season you’re into. We don’t rent these but it’s nice to know we can in case the DVR gets goofed up for some reason. As for movies, the files are larger compared to Apple TV/iTunes downloads but with this the quailty is much better. HD movies are available but they’re pretty big, about 6 GB! If you’re buying movies then it’s worth the wait and the extra 5 dollars. SD movies are still good quality for basic rentals. However, if you have a good cable connection you may want to rely on your On Demand Rentals to bypass waiting for long HD downloads. Again, PS Store is good for purchases and I encourage it to save on materials/resources…go green where you can. Only downfall with buying/renting movies this way is that the files don’t have chapter markers so you can advance through sections of the movie like you can with a DVD. Hopefully they change this.

Internet – If you need to access the web you can but you’ll probably want to pick up the Logitech keyboard to do this. The speed of browsing isn’t too fast and the viewing area isn’t the largest. I’ll walk over to my computer to do a search rather than use the PS3.

Photos/Music – Depending on your computer setup (Mac or PC) you may need to get some additional software in order to turn your computer into a media server. Then, through your wireless network you can access the music and play it through the PS3. Same goes for photos…or you can load the photos onto the PS3 directly, same goes for the music. Really amazing features but take a little research on what file formats are compatible, etc.

PS3 Backup – With an external drive attached, you can back up the PS3, which is great.

Overall, I say go for the 250GB if you’re into being green like me and wish to download games, movies and load photos and music. This device is truly an all-in-one and like I said, I’m picky. Not to mention I understand technology pretty well. If, after taking a realistic inventory, you will use all or the majority of the services, grab one of these suckers. I’d also recommend going Sony for your TV and surround sound. They all work really well together.

Enjoy!